Ko. 1320. 



nOTES ON FOSSIL BIRDS— LUCAS. 



551 



this ma}^ not have been the case. Having- such a disposition of the 

 legs combined with a total a))sence of external Avings, Hesperornis 

 must have })een particularl}^ awkward on land and probabl}^ came 

 ashore as seldom as possible. Related to this peculiar position of the 

 legs, it is suggested that the breeding habits must have been something 

 like those of the grebe and loon and were such that at no time was the 

 bird far from water. Even though Hesperornis was a marine bird, 

 there is no reason why it could not have found plenty of suitable 

 nesting places at once eas}" of access and yet beyond reach of the sea. 

 That Hesperornis was a bird of cursorial habits before it took to the 

 water is a supposition contradicted by every part of the skeleton. 

 The elongate body, short femora, and great development of the outer 



Fig. 5.— Lateral, palatal, and dorsal views of the anterior portion of the cranium of a 

 YOUNG (X)EMORANT, Phakicroconix urilc, showing the character of the palate and of the 

 narial openings. The palatines have been removed, all enlarged. /, Frontal; I, lach- 

 rymal; mxp, maxillopalatines; na, nasal; pmx, pbemaxillaeies; sr, sphenoid rostrum. 



toe are all opposed to such an idea, and were other evidence required 

 it is supplied by our present knowledge of the position of the legs. 



A few words may, perhaps, be said here regarding the relationships 

 of Hesperornis. The alleged col3aubine affinities have never been 

 apparent to pae, those portions of the skeleton which are thought to 

 indicate kinship with grebes and loons appearing to me as similarities 

 of structure, connected with similarity of habits. There are many 

 points of resemblance between Hesperornis and the cormorants, as well 

 as between Hesperornis and the grebes, such as the shape of the tibia, 

 the presence of a large patella pierced for the aml)iens and functioning 

 as a cnemial process, and the arrangement of the bones of the pectoral 

 arch. As for the cranium, all these birds — Hesperornis, grel)es, and 

 €ormorants^ — are holorhinal and schizognathous. In the cormorants 



